The Book of Shadows of a Broom Closet Dweller *EDITING*

Protection

When you practise magick you can attract things to you like a moth to a flame. It is a good practice to protect against bad energy and spirits, as well as everyday things like theft, fire, lightning and illness.

As you get adept at magick, some things don't want to mess with you so they avoid you. But there are tiers. Once you conquer one, another set of leeches, or what have you, come to play.

Do atheist/sceptic witches still need to exercise protection magick even though they don't believe in spirits or magick as an external force?  Yes! Protection magick for sceptics is all about reassuring yourself so you feel confident when you're doing spell work, and setting up a safe space for correctly re-programming your subconscious brain so you don't accidently re-program it in a negative way.

Think about a time when perhaps a stomach bug put you off of your favourite meal, and now whenever you think about your favourite food you just think about being sick - that would be an example of how your subconscious brain has accidentally been re-conditioned in a way that has negative consequences for you. The same thing can happen in witchcraft (perhaps causing brain fog, clumsiness, nightmares, anxiety, negative associations with things, etc).

🛡️ Layers of protection magick make you feel safer when doing your spellwork, relaxing you so you are able to be fully centred, and create a safe space in which you are able to re-condition your subconscious brain without negative side effects. 🛡️

What's the worst that could happen? Demonic possession?!

Witches protect themselves from almost anything. Demonic possession is just an extreme and vanishingly rare example that has been way over-dramatized in movies (it's not something most witches have to realistically worry about). In all honesty, the most common thing witches protect is their mental energy and wellbeing; something everyone (including non-witches) can benefit from doing more.

Think about how negatively the news and social media affects you - that's something you can learn to protect yourself from with witchcraft. What's more, witches tend to be very empathetic, open, and aware folk. This means that their empathetic abilities can often be negatively affected with just a simple trip to the grocery store. Particularly empathetic witches can pick up on the subtle energies people in public can project; hatred, fear, anger, anxiety. Witches can come away feeling ungrounded and drained of energy. If you ever feel like this, you need to practise some protection magick.

When it comes to casting spells, as a beginner with pure intentions, the worst thing that could happen is that your spell fails. That's it - no demonic possessions, no natural disasters, no life-changing consequences.

A beginner doing spellcasting with impure intentions (mockery, disrespect, selfishness, ignorance) may annoy or anger some spirits or universal forces at work, and may run into some bad luck for a short while (feeling drained/tired(1); unusual clumsiness; nightmares; illness of the self/family member/pet; general bad luck, etc).

Amateur witches doing some darker/more advanced spellwork(2) may suffer more dire consequences like hauntings, mysterious accidents, and severe bad luck (perhaps losing a job, getting in a car accident, suddenly losing a pet or loved one, sudden breakup, night terrors/sleep paralysis, etc) (3). This is why I advise beginner witches to stay away from baneful and advanced magick until they have mastered the basics, cleansing, and protection magick.

✨ The take-away message here is that you have nothing to worry about as long as you practise witchcraft with open, pure, and honest intentions, and have some basic layers of protection magick in place. ✨

Most forms of magickal bad luck/hexes/curses are only temporary and will wear off eventually, but protection magick will help to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place (and mitigate the effects if it does happen).